Susanne hosts Living to Tell the Storyand encourages others to share blessings of the week on Fridays. Here are a few of mine from this week.

See this picture? I took it today. It is a blue sky with clouds and sun. I am very thankful for that blue sky after a long stretch of dismal gray days. See this second picture? I also took it today. No more snow in the yard! Shadows from the sun! I am extremely grateful for the snow being gone, for sunshine, and for blue skies!

We seem to attract interesting animals in our neighborhood. Drake and Dessa Duck showed up again this week, hanging out on a neighboring roof and complaining about the late April snowstorm. Yesterday this rabbit was spotted ‘running laps around the house’ as my helper, Kathleen, pointed out. See how he hides in our brownish grass? Amazing to think that he was pure white just a few weeks ago. At least we have not had any visits from the moose that were spotted outside our town earlier this week.

Yesterday when I was out shopping I passed a grocery cart with two little girls in it. The younger one grinned and waved as I walked by and the older one scowled at me. I’m not sure why, but this made me really miss my own grandchildren. It is easy to focus on what you do not have, but it is not profitable or even proper for a Christian to do this. I am so blessed to live at a time when I can regularly see or speak to my family in China through technology and spend time with them at least once a year. This is what I will focus on: just a little over two months before they get here!

I don’t regularly buy Tide unless it’s on sale. At the store, all the varieties had sale prices on the shelf tags except the one I prefer. When I took one to the front to get the price checked, the Tide I liked was only $2.50 a bottle! I zipped back to the display and grabbed three more bottles. Good deals on things we need are always a blessing.

I discovered an interesting-looking gluten free scone mix this week made by the Namaste company. I have tried and liked several of their other products so I was hoping this would also be good. I made it today and am very happy with the results.

Here are a few of the cards I have been working on for Purple Grandma Designs

Visitors We were married in a double wedding with my husband’s sister and her husband. We are still good friends and still enjoy spending time together. Last week they came up from South Carolina so my brother-in-law could teach a block class. After that week was over we headed to the mountains for a few days of R and R.

Visiting My sister-in-law and I had a good week of visiting together and meeting with ladies in the church and with other ladies in ministry.

Cards I make cards to give away to encourage friends and family. I’ve named my ‘business / ministry’ Purple Grandma Designs and have been trying to sell enough cards to at least pay for my supplies. Lately I’ve sold several, and also been able to share some with people in our church who were discouraged. It’s nice to have a creative outlet and a ministry all in one.

Soaking The place we stayed in Canmore had outdoor hot tubs directly outside of the spa / exercise area. Though it was cold and sometimes snowy, we really enjoyed easing our muscle strains in those steaming hot tubs.

Photos We had cloudy and snowy weather driving into Canmore, and sunny, clear weather driving home. I had abundant opportunity to photograph the magnificent nature which surrounded us. I’ll share some of the photos this week and some next week.

1.Family night I always enjoy having my family here. These days when four of my five children live nearby, we try and have family night at least twice a month. Several of our children have lived abroad and are back here for now, and one still lives in China with his family. I cherish these face-to-face times we have to laugh, eat, debate, and share God’s grace in our lives.

2.Rest I have had a low-key restful week, which I pretty much always need after we travel. When we are traveling it’s hard to know for sure that I am eating gluten-free and avoiding the foods that make me sick. I did fairly well – only sick twice – but am grateful to be home again and to rest.

3.Crazy, amazing weather One of the things we missed when we moved to Alberta from the States many years ago was thunderstorms. While we would enjoy an occasional storm in Calgary, it was nothing like the humidity-infused, light and noise shows that defined South Carolina storms. This summer we have had many breathtaking thunderstorms in the Edmonton area. But not only did we have severe thunderstorm warnings here, we had a tornado warning while we were in Saskatchewan. In a moment of craziness, Bud and I drove around and took pictures of the menacing sky and the beautiful sunset colours as the storm weakened.

“What tornado warning?”

tornado warning

beginning to clear

sun behind clouds

sunset coming

after the warning

4.Joy in truth I have been deeply impressed as I have been studying the Scriptures that God is for us. He is for His children. This does not mean that we do not have trials or difficulties, but as we go through troubling times, God is there, encouraging us as we learn needed lessons, comforting us as we encounter our own failings, healing us as we acknowledge our sin-soaked brokenness and turn to Him for help. I find this deeply encouraging and the source of exceptional peace in dark moments.

1. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians and Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans! (Yes, I have dual citizenship) It’s a tremendous blessing to be part of two amazing countries.

2. Weather We had some pretty intense thunderstorms yesterday afternoon which produced a tornado warning for some locations south of us. These pictures are from last week’s storm.

In the valley

Storm’s a’ brewin’

Impending storm

Have you ever been in a tornado? I clearly remember one childhood 4th of July when one passed over us while we were waiting for fireworks at a park next to my grandparents’ apartment complex on Mentor Ave. The air was unusually still and thick with humidity, the clouds low and dark with a greenish hue to the skies. I recall thinking how it all felt so weird and surreal, and that the setting somehow made me uneasy. My parents made us climb down off the wall between the apartments and the park and we all headed inside to wait. I can’t remember if there was a warning sounded (the old civil defense warning siren, maybe?) but all six of us climbed into the bathtub at my grandparents’ place and stood there waiting. The thing I remember most is the rushing sound like a train passing by, somehow eerie and exciting at the same time. My memory fades from there. I seem to recall that no one was actually hurt and that the tornado passed over but did not touch down. Anyway, yesterday’s storm and tornado warning on this long weekend brought those memories back.

3. Mobility Some days I have great mobility with no pain, and other days I have great pain with almost no mobility. I am extremely grateful for the ability to move around at all. Just a few generations ago I would have been the crippled granny in her rocking chair by the fire. “Back in the day” congenital conditions like my hip dysplasia would have consigned me to a mostly immobile life. Today, thanks to two hip replacements, I do have mobility. Such a blessing!

4. Gardening My peas are growing like crazy, the herbs are doing well, mature kale and baby kale burgeoning, and tiny zucchini are popping out. I planted some yellow crookneck squash from seed and have some healthy looking plants coming up. I don’t know why, but yellow crookneck are hard to find here. They are our favorite variety of squash so I’m hoping they will do well. I also planted some heirloom carrots which are supposed to produce individual carrots that are yellow, purple, white, or deep orange. My beans are off to a slow start. I’ll keep you posted.

Garden peas

5. Drive – by photography I am learning more and more about my camera and editing programs, but I have one really bad habit I think I need to break. When I see something interesting I want to photograph it, but time constraints do not allow me to stop for Every. Single. Thing. I want to shoot. Hence I have fallen into the habit of drive-by photography. My husband drives and I have my camera poised, set, and ready. If I see something I think would make a great picture, I roll down the window and take burst shots as we fly by at 100 kms/hr. This defies every rule of good photography, and honestly, does not often produce a good image, but occasionally I capture an photograph that looks really good and appeals to my artistic eye. So do I abandon my drive-by habit and the opportunity to catch a good shot, or continue my whacky habit in the hopes that one of the 30+ bursts captures what I am seeing? I cannot decide.

Here are the last pictures from our anniversary trip a couple of weeks ago.

Anniversary trip My husband and I have been away this week celebrating our 37th anniversary. God provided for us in a very special way so we could rent a well-appointed roomy condo in beautiful Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. We have had a relaxing week of rest and exploration.

Mountains all around. Radium Hot Springs is located between two mountain ranges. Different weather conditions have allowed us to enjoy a wide variety of ‘moods’ of these magnificent mountain ranges.

Snow-capped beauty

Storm passing by

Mists descending

Magnificent peaks

Revisiting the town of Invermere, where we vacationed 25 years ago. My mother-in-law joined us for that vacation, the last significant time we spent with her with her before Alzhe imers took away the wonderful mother she was to all of us. During that vacation Mom used to take our children one at a time to the local bakery to enjoy a treat together. That bakery is still there, owned by the same people, and still creating some amazing breads and pastries. They also have a nice selection of gluten free bread and pastries which I really enjoyed sampling!

An opportunity to photograph the beauty. My husband has taken me out every day to explore and allow me to take pictures. Though we have had sunshine, rain, slush or hail every day, we still found many wonderful things to photograph. I’m including some from day 5 at the end of this post.

Amazing cloud formation

Rural rustic

This little guy came right up to the side of the road as we were driving by.

BC wildflower

Pretty purple

Brightening the landscape

These grow wild along the roadside

Hot tub I got to sit in a hot tub a couple of different times to see if soaking in the warm waters would help my fibromyalgia, which has been flaring up lately. It did not help much, but it felt great to soak.

When we first moved to Alberta from South Carolina over 25 years ago, I thought flat prairies and big, open skies were boring. Now I love them and even feel slightly claustrophobic when we travel back to the closed-in landscapes of the southeast.

Last week during our time away in the cabin, we observed Alberta skies in a variety of moods. Everything from bright, cloudless, sunny skies to fierce, stormy, thunderclouds rolled past. It was especially satisfying to sit on the broad porch in our comfortable Adirondack chairs to watch the ever-changing weather show.

When the thunderstorm passed by it reminded us of watching storms with our kids when they were little. Everyone would jump at the sound of thunder and Bud would tell the kids it was God talking. Psalm 29:3 says ‘The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders’ and Job 37:5 tells us “God thunders wondrously with his voice.” We sure love observing ‘God talking’ in a thunderstorm.